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The Subcontinent of Takunda - WIP

Hey all. First, I must warn you, I am new to this. Well, kinda, I've been drawing maps since as long as I can remember. However, computer maps are new to me.
Because of this, I decided to make this - an MS paint map of my usual setting, Takunda. My novelette, The Dragon and the Mage, as well as me and my girlfriend's roleplays all take place in this world. So making a map is necessary.

Engarnia, the kingdom of the humans, has so far been most of my focus. Thus, it's the most developed. I WILL make a GIMP map soon, and when I do it'll probably be Engarnia.

Two reasons I made an MS Paint map:

1. To go ahead and have locations and basic geography figured out for my stories
2. So that I can quickly figure out my world before committing it to a GIMP'd map.

I am pretty much ready to start on a GIMP map of Engarnia, but I am not sure which direction to take. Brushes? Map styles? Just those two have given me a headache. I don't have a tablet, but I do have a scanner. Any suggestions on how I could use it?

Here's the obligatory map of Takunda, and a map of Engarnia (er, it's huge...)

I'm not sure why I am posting this. I'd like to keep track of where I go from here, yes, but I understand you guys are experienced far more than I am, so I guess I am looking for feedback. Is there anything unnatural? Anything else you can tell me? Any recommended brushes or techniques, etc etc etc...

Side note: I've read plenty tutorials and howtos on this site Just to keep the impending suggestions to read them all at bay. Although, if there is a specific one you would suggest, I probably missed it, and I'd be happy to look at it.

Alright, update.
Started Engarnia in GIMP. Made custom brushes and did all the terrain features and such. Lemme know what you think:

Next I'll start on feature names (Carmellian Mountains, etc), then I will do towns and such. Not sure how I will do the compass rose and map legend. I wanted to make a fancy box with the Nation's name, brief description, etc. Was wanting to look at some other legends to see how other people did them, but I can't seem to find any. I'll keep looking.

Basic colour schema for the gimp-map also looks good... pehaps you could make the ocean a little lighter in tone, and the mountains a little darker.
Another thing that I would like to see changed... adapt the relative sizes of mountain/hill brushes and forest brushes. It looks a little wierd when your trees are so much taller than the mountains.

Basic colour schema for the gimp-map also looks good... pehaps you could make the ocean a little lighter in tone, and the mountains a little darker.
Another thing that I would like to see changed... adapt the relative sizes of mountain/hill brushes and forest brushes. It looks a little wierd when your trees are so much taller than the mountains.

Thanks! Yeah, I've been thinking about the mountains as well. I'll probably darken them next. And thanks for pointing out the tree/mountain thing, looking at it again I realize you're right. I'll probably make the trees smaller.

Added all the towns and cities, more place names. Played around with the sea and coasts a little bit, but I'll probably have to play some more. Did some more work on the mountains, experimenting with some diffusion, though I'm not sure if I like the result just yet.

Hehe, Freodin, that's a good question. I originally decided on 1 mile per 20 pixels, but I'm not so sure anymore. I intended to include a note in the legend that the cities are drawn not to scale, but that seems kinda weak. I'm not worried about the distances, because those are represented accurately either way, but the size of the cities is a concern. It's been a headache. This isn't just a cartograph, it's a worldbuild, and so I've put a crap ton of thought into it.

A potential suggestion, yes.
Basically, I would use icons for the cities. The bird-eyes look very nice, but they suggest a certain scale... a lot smaller than you want to have. Icons are scale-neutral.

I would suggest a simple 2-D silhoutte style, as used in the classic 17th century maps. I used such a style in my Elmsriggen map. Or you can go for something more elaborate... a wonderful example was used by Cereth in the Xendria map. With the second style, you should adapt your other icons though.

Now if you still want to have the bird-eye-view of your major cities: you could make little sideline maps for that, as in the Joan Blaeu map of the Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein.